Test Drive Meme (June + July)

[bravenewmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME: JUNE + JULY EDITION

Welcome to bravenewworld's test drive meme! This post is designed to help players test out their characters within the setting, as well as give them an opportunity to collect samples for their future application. The prompts below are all optional, and can be used to get a feel for the game, but we encourage players to get creative and use this post however best suits their needs. Players are encouraged to use either first person or third person for their threads.

When creating a thread, it is advised that players give their prospective thread partners a bit of information in the subject line, such as the characters name and canon, or a possible typing and Enlightened ability (if this is applicable). These are not required, but will make it easier for any prospective players to thread with you.

THIS CYCLE'S PROMPTS
#1 Refuge has opened its gates to the people of Union, Caldera and Citadel, in the most hospitable way they feel possible: A party. Some have come to explore the expansive underground city, but mostly, word has spread about how Refuge's brews are on point. They don't seem to discriminate on age, either.

#2 The city of Caldera is starting a major production project and they need workers. The forges are constantly going day and night and the pay's good, but it's hot, hard work that'll leave you tired and achy to say the least.

#3 The Summer Solstice festival has begun in Citadel. The tree is in full bloom, with flowers of every color dot its branches. This week-long celebration brings together the various tribes that call Citadel its home through music, dancing and, of course, fighting. There is a tournament set to begin, boasting some of the strongest Valkyries that Citadel has ever known among the combatants.

#4 The heat has really gotten to the people of Union, and as a result many have moved south for a weekend get-away in the Archipelago and the larger Island. The sand is warm and the water is too, but doesn't the beach seem a bit crowded for a once seemingly deserted area?

#5 Wildcard! Come up with your own prompt!

If you have any setting questions, or want to do some reading before posting a thread, you can find the setting directory here! Happy tagging!

Comments

[lanfan]

I can't even wear my arm. If the sand got into the mechanism... ( she pulls a face. repairs are expensive. )

So are you for once not going to insist I should try to have fun?

[nippy]

Oh, no. I have enough fun on a regular basis that I'm allowed to miss a day. You, on the other hand, have a lifetime of fun to catch up on.

[ he claps his hands. ] Chop chop.

[lanfan]

( blinks at him once, twice. not in fact going anywhere. oh, but here's a thought. )

Have you tried watermelon sorbet?

( what that has to do with anything? psh. )

[nippy]

[ ... what? okay, he'll go along with this and see where it's going. ]

Nope. I'm still catching up on the stuff that I couldn't get when I was living outside the cities.

[lanfan]

( well, now she moves. there's a few bags and boxes sitting about that seem like luggage, and she kneels down by and opens one of them. the inside of it is kept cold by some enchantment. in a minute, she'll be handing jack a small bowl of something pink. )

Here.

( don't worry, she's helping herself to some, too. )

Maybe it'll help.

[nippy]

[ his body temperature is still lower than a regular person's, even in this heat - if it ever increased too much, he would be seriously worried - but the bowl is refreshing in his hands anyway, and he looks kind of thrilled just to have anything cold at all. ]

You guys came prepared, huh.

[lanfan]

Yes.

( sitting crosslegged on the ground. eating sorbet. )

We knew it was going to be warm, so it seemed like the best option.

[nippy]

[ he glances down when she sits, pulls a face (sand) and drops into a crouch instead, his arms braced on his knees while he eats. ]

Never been to the beach before. I knew it would be hot, but I didn't really know what to do about it. [ he looks up at Flabébé, who comes to sit on his shoulder. ] You want some, Baby? Only if you stop nagging at me for coming here.

[lanfan]

( much easier to balance the bowl on her legs seeing as she needs her one hand for the spoon. welp. she looks out toward the sea. )

I've never been this far from Sanctuary.

( it turns out there was a nincada hiding in the shade by the luggage. he comes skittering out now, settling by Lan Fan's side. )

[nippy]

[ Jack goes still, rigid, with the spoon in his mouth. he bites down for a moment, and then forces his jaw open to exhale a breath of frost. ]

I haven't been into Sanctuary since I woke up. I don't know what it's like in there—

[ but it can't have been good. Lan Fan isn't controlled like many of the other Homunculi are, but he can't imagine what it would be like to live in that city where people think so little of you that they consider it their right to do as they please with you. he had been scared, the first time someone knew - Lucca, it had been, she had asked are you? and Jack had waited for her expression to twist with revulsion. when she had been sympathetic and accepting instead, it had made him wonder if things were real. would everyone in Sanctuary look at him like that, the way he had imagined? with fear and derision, like something feral but muzzled.

it's hard enough when he's only ever had his own scathing comments to contest with. he wonders if he would even hold up against a lifetime of it from an entire city. ]

But they say it's good to travel, right? You know, experience the world and all that.

[lanfan]

( the thing about the people in sanctuary is that she isn't a person in sanctuary. even though the young lord at least has never treated her as anything less, no matter how much weight his voice carries, against the entire city, the entire culture, it is only one voice. she is a mask and a shadow and a weapon. now she's suddenly expected to be... what? )

So they say.

( and still here she is, not travelling for herself at all. even when the young lord leaves her behind as if to make a point. )

Has it helped you?

[nippy]

[ her question evokes an audible intake of breath, sharp and unsteady.

he's never turned the thought on himself before. has it helped? what good has travelling done him? it was something he had started only because he had thought, foolishly, that he would be able to find the Moon Man just by looking beyond the walls of Sanctuary. when it hadn't been that, it had been fear; better to put more distance between himself and wherever he had been, in case someone ever thought to catch him. as time passed and nothing changed, it had been... what? what had it been? yes, he had avoided cities for fear that he would hurt others and thus also be exposed, but he could have settled down elsewhere, outside the confines of any city.

and he hadn't. he had moved, endlessly, skipping from one city to the next and simply taking his time on the path between. he had been running. not in fear, not as prey feeling hunted by shadows, but because if he stopped running, if he allowed things to settle, then he would have to face himself. he would be left alone with nothing to occupy his mind, and his thoughts would turn dark far too quickly.

but he still doesn't know what the answer is. isn't sure whether that is help or hindrance. does it even count as the travel, if all he has ever focused on is the escape?

he gives her the only honest answer he can, his voice quiet and small: ]

I don't know.

[lanfan]

( as she watches, it seems like he's shrinking. folding in on himself in an attempt to disappear. )

I see.

( it's all she can think of, at least for the time being. this, at least, is more or less what she expected. the sorbet is sweet, but whether she just happens to know this or can actually taste it is difficult to say. )

Are you... are you going to stop?

( it seems like a very personal thing to ask, perhaps. tactless. but for once she is with someone who might be her equal, in a sense. she's curious. )

[nippy]

No.

[ he can't yet. he still feels like he's just distracting himself - delaying the inevitable, maybe, for as long as he can. he has friends now, in both people and Pokémon; a life, a home, a purpose. and he enjoys himself, he does, he knows that to be true, he's happy— but it's like... like all of that is happening on ice. on the frozen surface of a lake. it's there for the moment, it's real, but the depths are always lurking underneath, cold and dark, it only takes one crack and suddenly the ice never mattered at all. the water is all there is.

that's too much for him to describe, or to even wrap his head around without feeling like the cold core of him will just destroy him entirely. all of it catches in his throat. it hurts. something that he can't even swallow, too immense, too stubborn. ]

Just 'cause it hasn't helped yet doesn't mean it won't ever. Right? [ it comes out weak, though. he doesn't believe that himself - he knows that what will fix him is answers and understanding and his memories - but he needed something to say. ] And— And you? How are you finding life outside Sanctuary?

[lanfan]

It's... different.

( in too many ways. she falters, short on words. stops eating, too, most of the way through her sorbet. looks down. )

People don't look at me the same way. That is, I mean. They actually look.

( normally, all glances slide off her. oil and water. like furniture. a commodity. an asset. her jaw works to find the words but her mind is falling short, she's never been good at this. never had to be. it's the tip of the iceberg, only. Lan Fan doesn't know how to put it into words, and the whole thing makes her uncomfortable, but she doesn't feel like there's anything to be gained from running, from hiding. )

I... there's a lot I don't know or understand.

[nippy]

I know. [ gentle, pitched to soothe. he isn't always great at comfort, but this is something he understands. it's something he'd wanted, when things were harder all the time. just someone he could vent to who would actually know what he was talking about, instead of trying to approach it like he was... like he was a regular, real person. ]

Learning stuff will take a while; longer before it sinks in. Everyone in Union is gonna see you as a person, though. And even when they know what you are, they'll care.

[ because that was the difference for him - when he went to cities before, he was some homeless urchin, causing trouble and stealing away children. a person, just a worthless one. he gladly took that disdain, though, over the looks he imagined receiving if all those people knew what he really was. ]

And— They care, but that doesn't mean they understand. Actually, they really don't. [ he isn't sure how to explain, but it's a warning he feels he has to give; it still catches him off-guard with fury sometimes. ] You're allowed to be angry about that. They'll treat you like a person, but that doesn't mean you can't be mad at them. Gods know I was, for a really long time.

[lanfan]

( she has heard this kind of tone only very, very few times in her life. she feels like she should be angry, like it should rile her up and go against her pride, but it doesn't. instead she just feels smaller, somehow, and listens. it isn't a stretch for her to imagine someone caring despite knowing what she is. but what is a stretch is for this to extend to so many people. a city. a whole mindset. )

Why would I be angry? Most people can't understand. It isn't their fault, because they ... they have no way of knowing.

( and she and her struggles have never mattered. she doesn't know why they should. why she should expect any kind of understanding at all. even the attempt, even the caring alone, seems overwhelming. )

[nippy]

[ he shrugs. ] Well... Maybe you wouldn't. It could've just been me! But I... Hm.

[ what was it exactly that irritated him about the way they cared sometimes... the same reason he gets angry when people tread lightly around him, maybe. when people treat him like a ticking time bomb. he wants to shout at them that yes, he's dangerous, he knows he's dangerous and unstable and he can't help that, but treating him that way all the time isn't helping either. like— like trying to solve the problem without knowing the cause. ]

They don't understand, but sometimes they still pretend to, or they think they do. They... feel bad. [ Waver had said it once. it had been during an argument, but it had stuck, grating against Jack's mind with every pitying look. ] But they don't know how bad it actually is. Nobody wants to think about what's actually happened to you.

[ maybe he's being unfair. but that's how it feels. ]

It drove me crazy when I first got to Union, not having anyone like me around. People just cannot understand, no matter how much you try to explain it - and I know, duh, that's not their fault, but I got pretty angry about it sometimes.

[lanfan]

( she nods. haltingly, but she does. it's not something she can relate to, not really, but she thinks... maybe it's just not yet. )

I... maybe that will take time for me as well. After all this time, I guess it doesn't really bother me that much what people think of me anymore. But then, perhaps this will be different when they look at me as a person.

( she pauses, thinks about that. oh, and actually remembers to finish eating before it melts completely. her voice is firmer when she continues, certain. )

I don't want anyone's pity for what happened. It won't change anything.